Chapter Text
The sound of a bell ringing against an open door echoed through a bar as heeled footsteps approached the counter. A woman, wearing a grey blazer over untucked work clothes and a name tag still dangling around her neck, shuffled into one of the stools heavily with a tired expression on her face. She drummed her fingernail a few times on the counter as a bartender came around to take her order.
"Just a water, please." She said in a low, hoarse voice after a long day. Her work bag hung carelessly on her shoulder, almost falling off, as if she couldn't care whether it fell or not.
The bartender noticed this while filling a glass with ice. "Waiting for someone?"
"Ah, just a highschool reunion." Was the reply.
"Those are fun."
A clink on the counter signifies a finished order, as the woman takes her drink and sips it carefully. "Thanks."
The bartender nods and retreats to some other area in the back, leaving the woman to herself and her water.
Just some few moments later, there is that same doorbell ringing yet again and someone new shifts into the chair directly next to the woman. She turns.
"There you are, Dokja-ssi!" The other says, voice bright and excited. Brown hair, beige blazer—the type of look that truly represented a hardworking and talented woman, one chased throughout her department. She had her phone open to a language learning app.
"Sangah-ssi! I didn't think you'd show up." Kim Dokja replies, brushing a strand of hair away from her face. She takes a glance at her friend's screen and smiles. "Learning spanish? You're very diligent."
"Ah, yes. Gracias!" Yoo Sangah nods to her and lightly tapped the counter for her own water.
"If I spent my time studying instead of reading webnovels, maybe I'd be as successful as you are, haha."
Sangah sent the woman a sad look. "Don't say that, Dokja-ssi… we all have our talents and interests. If you want, I can tell you the name of the app I use,"
"That's okay, honestly. I've got to live my own life, right? A Dokja life."
"Of course! You're so inspiring, don't you know? Then I'll live a Sangah life."
Kim Dokja laughs at the remark and takes a sip from her glass. It felt strange to be complimented in this way, especially since Yoo Sangah was such a capable woman and Dokja was not. It was true to say that she'd get further in life if she put in effort, but that just wasn't the way she had managed to survive up until now.
To be called inspiring from an inspiring woman…
—
Kim Dokja, female, 28 years old. She had a job as a temporary contracter at Mino Soft, a gaming company. Her favorite thing to do was—embarassingly enough—read webnovels during her free time and even occasionally make her own personal game development drafts. It never materialized, but she had been planning out a fantasy game in respect to her favorite webnovel, Three Ways to Survive a Ruined World (or TWSA as she called it). Written under an online username going by 'tls123' and based closely off of South Korea's top pro gamer Yoo Joonghyuk, Kim Dokja had been reading this certain novel for 13 or so years.
It was a long time, and could be considered tiring after a while of reading. Nevertheless, it was precisely this novel that had shaped Dokja into who she was, starting back in high school, through college, and then even into her office contract. The Yoo Joonghyuk she had been following for those years— or rather Yoo Joonhyun, as the writer had dubbed him—had kept Kim Dokja alive.
After work, she'd come home exhausted and drained, ready to sleep through a whole week, and take out her phone to read. One chapter a day was enough; after all, the novel had around 3,000 chapters that were released and Dokja was completely caught up on all of them. If she really wanted to, she would go back and reread parts she didn't remember as clearly.
That was who she was, anyway. A reader.
Her father named her Kim Dokja in hopes that she'd become independent, not knowing what kind of a monster he'd raise. Despite all this, she had been framed with the name 'only child' ever since she could walk, and frankly, no one ever saw her as the reader in her name. Except for her mother—but that was no longer relevant.
When she was accepted for her contractor position at Mino Soft, her newly met manager, Han Myungoh, struck up a question after seeing her namecard.
"Kim Dokja… so you're an only child?"
"No, sir. That's just my name."
There was nothing else to that conversation. Alas, Dokja knew it all well; this was a typical occurrence in her life. To meet someone and the first thing they expected out of her was that she lived alone, had no one, not even a family to rely on. All the wretchedness attached to those two words—that label—clung to Kim Dokja, which was her true identity.
But the identity and being she wished to have that was true—even with how correct it was that yes, she was alone, yes, she had no family—was to be a reader.
Readers are intelligent, collected, able to draw in information and make inferences from it. They're logical and can pick up on clues quickly without having to search endlessly for it. Sometimes they do search without end simply because they are curious in nature, and are prone to discovery. Readers are strong-willed and can easily hide behind a book to escape reality.
All of these things are swept aside when Kim Dokja is reduced to the term 'only child', and she is no longer seen as Kim Dokja, but rather an unfortunate woman who lives alone, has no family, and has not even one person to rely on.
Not a reader. Anything but a reader.
On some regular day in the summer, after Kim Dokja had gotten out of work and already flopped down onto her bed, she recieved a message from her colleague. She spent a moment staring at the notification on the screen—she was still wearing her work clothes, her bag still slung over her shoulder, she hadn't had anything to eat yet, and she hadn't read today's chapter of TWSA. Then, she opened the message.
It was a proposal from Yoo Sangah that suggested she and her high school friends all met up one day at a bar and had a reunion.
Keyword 'friends', because Kim Dokja sometimes didn't know whether or not she wanted to actually consider them as such.
In her first two years of high school, Dokja was a classic book-loving loner who sat in the corner of the classroom looking out the window if not looking at a novel. She was average at school, not being like Yoo Sangah now, who was diligently studying even if it wasn't strictly necessary. Even at this time in her late twenties, Kim Dokja had not succeeded in this lifestyle. There was a difference between Dokja's definition of a reader and Sangah's, who read famous serialized novels like Harry Potter or The Lord of the Rings.
When not being swarmed by nosy students who wanted to know more about her mother's book (which shall not be elaborated on), she was swarmed by bullies who, despite being the type of guys who swore they never hit girls, attacked Kim Dokja relentlessly.
Then, in her last two years of high school following the dwindling end of the bullying, she became acquaintances with a few of her classmates: Lee Hyunsung, Jung Heewon, and Yoo Sangah. A close group, they were. Sangah as per usual was the academic scholar, Heewon on the other hand was the domineering and carefree student, and lastly, Hyunsung was the knightly but soft bodyguard. As for Kim Dokja… she remained the same as always.
Jung Heewon was kind enough to shoo away Dokja's bullies, even if she had asked her not to. But one thing to know about Heewon that stuck with Kim Dokja throughout her time as a student was that the former prioritized justice over everything. For Jung Heewon, it was unthinkable to just walk past someone being bullied as if it were completely normal—especially if it was one of her close friends.
Another thing to note about Heewon: she was a kendo champion. It was safe to assume that, when Kim Dokja realized her bullies weren't showing up anymore to mess with her, Jung Heewon had taken care of them.
Dokja had also learned how protective Hyunsung could be, which is why he became some sort of bodyguard to her. It wasn't like she had asked him to be like that; it was just something that naturally fell into place.
In the middle of their time together during those last two years of high school, Yoo Sangah had introduced her friends to her other friends, who went by Han Sooyoung and Lee Seolhwa.
And that Han Sooyoung just happened to be friends with Yoo Joonghyuk, too…
A lively group, they grew to be.
Han Sooyoung, Dokja discovered, was the troublemaker type who liked pranks and annoying others to no end. Particularly the reader, who was already fed up with everyone's messes first thing in the morning every day. Sooyoung was a writer, too, who started off creating subpar fanfiction to eventually carrying on in her life to be a famous author. There were some times, however, that Sooyoung was able to be vulnerable with Dokja, although not often.
Lee Seolhwa was always there for Dokja whenever it came to emotional or medical needs. She was such a big contrast from the rest of the energetic group that Kim Dokja didn't even understand how she was friends with all of them, but she was anyway. Seolhwa's aspirations were to be a doctor, and so she was, as someone older and more mature than before (if it was possible for her to get any more mature than she already was). Kim Dokja could get hurt or sick one day and she'd know exactly what kind of remedy would make her feel the best on the following day. It was comforting to have someone beside her like this, that while Dokja was busy taking care of the group, Seolhwa was busy taking care of her.
Another thing to mention: Lee Seolhwa and Yoo Joonghyuk dated briefly in their first year of high school. They broke it off on good terms, though.
And finally, there was Kim Dokja's last friend during high school—perhaps the most strange, but also the one who made the biggest impression.
Where could she ever begin?
The school's unrivaled beauty—she was top notch in schoolwork, sports, and looks (of course); she was top notch in everything. But even with all of these superior traits, Yoo Joonghyuk chose not to hang out with the other popular students in constrast to what one may think. Instead, she was frequently seen around Kim Dokja's group.
Yoo Joonghyuk was stern and collected. Able to gather information and make inferences from it. She was a genius at nature and incredibly logical—the eptoime of Kim Dokja's definition of a reader, just without the webnovels.
The only thing she was incapable of doing was hiding behind a book. Yoo Joonghyuk was the type to face things head on and never look back.
Therefore, the actual title of 'reader' always remained with Dokja, and Dokja alone.
During her last year of high school, she and the beauty became closer than the others. They weren't friends—no, Yoo Joonghyuk had liked to call them companions instead. She referred to all of the people in her group a friend except Kim Dokja, whom she singled out as her only companion.
They weren't really close to begin with, especially not that much, and meeting Joonghyuk was just like meeting any other student. A brief hello or a bow, an exchange of names, then nothing else. The two were not in the same classes with each other, and were rarely seen together. However, as Kim Dokja went to the library every day to read books (and of course also TWSA secretly), she began to see Yoo Joonghyuk there too; sometimes she read, but mostly she studied. Then, Dokja started to sit next to Joonghyuk those days when she saw her, although it required both courage and willpower. She'd shuffle into the seat across from her soon-to-be-companion and read, making no conversation with the other.
Then, it shifted. Yoo Joonghyuk, one day, was fed up with the perpetual silence and spoke up.
"What are you reading?" She asked, moving her head up from her book to look at Dokja.
"Huh? Me?"
"Who else would I be talking about?"
Kim Dokja fought back an annoyed expression, and then responded. "I'm reading a pretty unknown novel, so you wouldn't know."
"Tell me."
"…Alright. It's a book called Requiem for the Fake," Without realizing it, she began to ramble about the novel while Yoo Joonghyuk was still there, watching. "The main character wants to take revenge on his past friend for betraying him, so he kills him—but! He realizes that his friend didn't really exist all along, and it was just an illusion. I haven't finished the book, so it's labeled as a hallucination induced by schizophrenia right now, but I feel like there's something deeper to it. Maybe it isn't schizophrenia? There is magic in this world, so what if someone had hit him with a spell at some point to make him do that—" She realized where she was and stopped speaking. Her cheeks grew warm.
Yoo Joonghyuk just sat and stared at her, listening to every bit.
In a lower volume, Kim Dokja spoke again. "…Sorry, am I talking too much? Besides, this is a spoiler anyway."
"It's fine. When you finish the book, I'd like to read it."
"Really? It seems interesting to you?"
"I'll give it a try, since you suggested it."
"Okay," Dokja smiled weakly and looked across the table to Yoo Joonghyuk's book. "What are you reading, then?"
"A manual." Was the reply.
"For what? Isn't that boring?"
"It's useful. I'm trying to get better at handling game software and technology."
She would have never thought that Yoo Joonghyuk played games. But then again, anything was possible, wasn't it?
"You play games, huh? Do you stream them?"
"Yes."
"Woah, actually? I'll watch, if you want."
Joonghyuk's expression softened. "Sure."
Thus from that day on, Kim Dokja and Yoo Joonghyuk became the companions that they were throughout that whole year. They'd share with each other book recommendations and Dokja would watch the other's streams, often times being one of the only few viewers watching. Yoo Joonghyuk got off to a bad start but started to do better; he attracted far more viewers later on and ended up—as we now know—becoming a professional gamer in the future.
Whenever Kim Dokja got sick, Yoo Joonghyuk would come in Lee Seolhwa's place. Whenever Kim Dokja would eat lunch in the cafeteria with her other friends, Yoo Joonghyuk would sit directly next to her and shovel food onto her plate. Whenever Kim Dokja was struggling to manage the group, Yoo Joonghyuk took over and quieted everyone down instantly. Whenever Kim Dokja was struggling with her studies, Yoo Joonghyuk would tutor her. Whenever Kim Dokja went out with her friends, Yoo Joonghyuk was the first to meet up with her.
They were inseparable. Kim Dokja sometimes thought to herself that picking up on TWSA in her first year of high school fated her to become companions with Yoo Joonghyuk, since she had unintentionally discovered it was an apocalypse fanfiction of some other student in her school. Speaking of which, who even wrote that?
…And decided to continue it for 13 years, no less.
After high school ended and the group graduated, everyone eventually went their own ways. Kim Dokja applied to a third rate college just outside of town, Yoo Sangah did the same (although she probably found a more suitable college for her abilities); Lee Hyunsung went to the army, Jung Heewon also went to college—god knows where—, Han Sooyoung began a life as a freelance writer, Lee Seolhwa applied for medical school, and Yoo Joonghyuk was scouted by an entertainment industry specializing in gaming.
Most of them never spoke again—they were too busy dealing with their own lives to do so. It wasn't because they didn't care about each other—on the contrary, they meant a lot to each other—but studies and work are time-consuming affairs.
Kim Dokja reconnected with Yoo Sangah after they started their internship at Mino Soft, and they became friends again there. Occasionally, Han Sooyoung would send Dokja a file via text messages to beta read her work, but that was that.
As for Yoo Joonghyuk, her former companion, Kim Dokja continued to watch her streams like a routine but they never spoke. Neither of them were the type to text each other in a long distance friendship anyway. She watched Joonghyuk rise to fame and become known pretty much worldwide, while Dokja herself was sitting in an office cubicle alone working on game mechanics. It was unfortunate, how their friendship ended.
But when Yoo Sangah suggested they all meet up together and mentioned that Yoo Joonghyuk would be coming (surprisingly enough), Kim Dokja couldn't just say no.
And so, she came.
—
One by one, within the hour, everyone began to arrive through the bar door. Yoo Sangah reserved a large table in the corner of the bar near the window for all of them, and the seats quickly became full.
"Dokja! I've missed you!" Heewon excitedly spoke, taking her hand from across the table and shaking it swiftly. Lee Hyunsung's smile shone toward everyone in the group.
"It's good to see you all." Kim Dokja exclaimed, finishing off her water. "What have you all been up to?"
"Well, if you must know, I am a famous author around these parts," Han Sooyoung started.
"Yeah, we know."
"You all should totally read my newest release coming on Monday. It'll be in collaboration with Star Stream Entertainment, and guess who's going to star in it—"
"Han Sooyoung." A voice spoke from the door. It seemed the guest of honor had arrived.
Yoo Joonghyuk sat in the seat across from Kim Dokja, not looking at her much. She gave Sooyoung an annoyed look.
"I wasn't expecting you of all people to show up to something like this." Heewon said, looking her up and down.
The gamer was clad in a black turtleneck and a green accented athletic jacket. She had a mask over her mouth, but took it off after getting herself settled.
"Yeah, look at her. Do you enjoy having to cover up all the time so people don't recognize you?"
"Sooyoung. Be quiet."
"Geez."
"Well, I'm sure you've been well, Joonghyuk-ssi," Yoo Sangah smiled. To this, Yoo Joonghyuk gave her a curt nod.
It had been some time since Kim Dokja saw her in person. She had not met up with Joonghyuk since her graduation day, and had only seen her through the screen of a computer or her phone. One thing was clear now: Yoo Joonghyuk was breathtaking when you saw her in real life as an adult. She was no longer a teenager; she no longer had childlike features and seemed far more mature. She still had the same intense gaze but her hair had grown longer—it was a big change for Kim Dokja.
Everyone had changed in their own ways, but it seemed to her that the only one who hadn't was Dokja herself.
Still just an ordinary woman who liked to read, lived alone, and had no one.
"…Dokja-ssi?" Lee Seolhwa asked from next to her, a worried expression on her face. Kim Dokja quickly snapped back to reality, putting on a fake smile.
"Ah, sorry. I've been tired lately, so I must have zoned out. Work is draining when your boss is a dick."
Sangah sighed. "Manager Han… He stole my bike recently so that I'd ride home with him, but I declined."
"He did what?! That bastard…" Jung Heewon clenched her fists. "I'll go teach him a lesson, Sangah—"
"No need, Heewon-ssi! I'm alright. I took the subway instead."
"What kind of boss goes after his employee, anyway? Guy's a weirdo." Han Sooyoung shrugged. "Does he have anything better to do?"
"No, he hasn't. All he does is boss us around, and it seems he's too busy gaining wrinkles to look like a proper manager." Replied Dokja, as she waved over a waiter. Lee Hyunsung couldn't help but let out a laugh at this blunt description.
Sangah fiddled with her fingers. "Is he ever trying to pick on you too, Dokja-ssi?"
Yoo Joonghyuk's eyes narrowed at this.
"He has a couple of times in the past, but I've let him know by now that I'm not interested. I don't think he's into the reserved types. Now he just treats me like a coffee maker."
"Reserved types? What are you, emo?" Sooyoung held in a laugh, and Kim Dokja only glared at her.
"I'm not."
"Should we get some soju, everyone?" Sangah spoke up, a warm smile on her face.
"Woah. I'm not looking to get a hangover tomorrow. I have books to write."
Jung Heewon raises her hand jokingly to slap the woman but doesn't. "Shut up, Sooyoung. It's a high school reunion, have fun."
"Well, if you insist!"
"Dokja-ssi, do you want any?" Yoo Sangah turns to her, and she thinks about it for a few moments. Kim Dokja never really drank much, even at company parties. There are some new workers who get peer pressured into drinking a lot, but Dokja learned to not be a pushover in drinking games once she was her first time around. As far as she knew, too, she was a lightweight.
"Sure, why not. It's a reunion, so I should relax for once, right?" This wasn't the same as a company night out. Therefore, Kim Dokja was safe amongst her friends to drink as she pleased (even though she didn't as much anyway).
"Then that's settled. We're all good with soju?"
The group nodded.
"Joonghyuk-ssi?"
"That's fine."
And so Yoo Sangah ordered a few bottles…
—
Playing a drinking game amongst all of Dokja's old friends and especially her ex-companion (who is now worldwide famous) was not a good idea.
It went like this: everyone at the table took a turn drinking a shot of soju in chronological order, and whoever managed to drink the most without becoming completely drunk was the winner.
Kim Dokja had not expected it, but it turns out her colleague was the ultimate heavy drinker. Perhaps she wasn't aware of this because of how little company parties Yoo Sangah attended compared to her, but the woman had really stood her ground.
The most surprising detail—through Dokja's haze—was that Yoo Joonghyuk had faltered as well. She was the last to go down besides Sangah, and even now the gamer looked unfazed on the outside. However, there was signs of drunkenness—there was no mistaking it.
The last thing Kim Dokja remembered before she blacked out from the alcohol was Yoo Joonghyuk gazing at her with this unmistakable look—she couldn't quite describe it, but it wasn't anything like Dokja had ever seen in Joonghyuk before. Perhaps, for just a brief moment, the reader no longer thought that her ex-companion hated her. Rather, it was…
"Dokja-ssi!" Yoo Sangah's voice echoed throughout her head as Kim Dokja slowly woke up, eyelids heavy from the soju.
"S-Sangah? What…"
"You blacked out for the remainder of the reunion, but everyone's going home now. Our drinking game went a little overboard, I apologize…"
Kim Dokja waves her off. "Ah, don't worry about that, I think all of us had fun. You should go home now too, Sangah-ssi. Do you have a ride?"
"I was going to take the subway," She replies.
"The last train arrives around 10:30, so you'd better hurry."
"Oh, yes! Are you going to be riding as well?"
"Yeah—"
Yoo Joonghyuk's voice suddenly cut over, and Kim Dokja realized that the woman was standing up beside the booth. "She can ride with me. Dokja. I'll drive you home."
She blinked. Yoo Joonghyuk—her former companion, the now top-level pro gamer known across the world—was taking her home?!
"Hold on, Yoo Joonghyuk, you don't have to do this."
"I'm doing it. Are you ready to leave?"
"W-Well, yes, but—"
"Then let's go."
"…"
"I'll see you at work next week, Dokja-ssi," Yoo Sangah gave Dokja a reassuring nod and headed out of the bar swiftly as to catch the subway. Now there were only two people from their party left in the bar—Yoo Joonghyuk and Kim Dokja. Two people worlds apart.
Yoo Joonghyuk gently guided the still dazed reader out of the bar and into her car after a few minutes. She didn't really look at Dokja at all, only sparing glances when necessary.
She began to drive—almost as if she knew the route to Kim Dokja's apartment by heart—not caring to ask the drunk woman for directions.
"Joonghyuk-ah," Dokja mumbles, leaning her head on the cold glass of the car window. "I moved out in college."
She paused. "Oh."
Kim Dokja took her phone out of her pocket and winced at the glowing screen, turning down her brightness and then selecting the tab that led to TWSA. "I live somewhere over by Geumho Station…"
"Kim Dokja. Be specific."
"…"
Approximately 20 minutes later, Yoo Joonghyuk was stationed outside of Kim Dokja's tiny apartment building with the reader on her back. She diligently walked up each of the steps, following Dokja's quiet instructions until she found herself at door 302.
"Is this it? Where's your key?" She asked. With no answer from the now asleep woman, Joonghyuk took matters into her own hands and put Kim Dokja down, rummaging through her bag until she found a house key and slipped it through the lock. The door creaked open and she stepped inside, picking Dokja back up and closing the door behind her.
The house was gloomy and certainly a cramped environment—it was truly suitable for someone who lived alone. Yoo Joonghyuk scowled and entered each room, finding the bedroom and softly plopping the sleeping Kim Dokja onto her bed. She stared at her for a few seconds and then left the room.
Joonghyuk was not the type to be a snoop, but curiosity creeped up inside her as she stood in the middle of her past companion's house. Someone who she used to be so close to and ended up never seeing again after school.
"Why didn't you contact me, Dokja?" She spoke under her breath, looking at the shabby bookshelf in the corner. There were so many novels crammed into each of the shelves, many of which already had bookmarks in them. Kim Dokja had not changed—even a whopping 10 years could not quell her love for reading.
Suddenly, as she was about to walk away, Yoo Joonghyuk noticed the spine of a book sticking out just a tad more than the others. It looked so familiar to her, the cover being a dark shade that jogged something in her memories.
She flipped to a page that seemed half open from a slip of paper inside, looking at its contents. It was a strip of three photos connected displaying the two of them during high school; they had gone to a photobooth one day and decided to get some pictures together, but Yoo Joonghyuk did not expect Kim Dokja to have kept them.
In the first photo, Dokja's smiling with a peace sign, separated from Joonghyuk who is stone-faced. In the second, she's staring at the gamer with an annoyed expression, almost as if she was saying: You'd better smile, bastard.
The third photo had Kim Dokja leaning into Yoo Joonghyuk casually, eyes half closed and grinning brightly. For the stoic teenager, she had the slightest hint of a smile on her face, her lips turned up just a little. She wasn't looking in the camera.
Yoo Joonghyuk flipped to a new page.
In certain pages, there were sticky notes filled with different handwritings—one neat and perfect from Yoo Joonghyuk, the other messy and scribbled—discussing certain parts in the book.
'In the end, it was magic that influenced the character's hallucinations of his friend. You were correct, Kim Dokja.'
'I know, I have pretty good intuition when it comes to things like this! :)'
She looked at the book title on the cover.
"A Requiem for the Fake," Joonghyuk whispered, tracing her nail over the lettering. The woman placed the novel back onto the shelf in the same pushed out position and left it there, her fist clenched.
Kim Dokja never spoke to her, but she certainly did not forget about her.
Yoo Joonghyuk hummed softly, clicking the front door shut and locking it. She put the key under the mat in front of the door and quietly left.
—
When Kim Dokja opened her eyes the next morning, she was uncomfortably hot—still in her work clothes, namecard still hung around her neck, phone still in her pocket. Her head ached considerably, most likely from a hangover.
She noticed her bag was on her nightstand. More importantly, how did she get home?
Dokja opened her phone to see a notification from a familiar number and blinked in confusion.
Yoo Joonghyuk: Your house keys are underneath the doormat. There is soup in your fridge for your hangover. Eat it.
Receiving a text from Yoo Joonghyuk of all people was strange, especially since they hadn't seen each other in years. She walked over to the kitchen and opened the fridge, shocked at how the gamer kept her word. The hangover soup had really been there. Did she make this?
Kim Dokja shifted into one of her chairs and ate it silently. Yep, Joonghyuk made this. She had always been able to identify her companion's cooking back in high school, simply because it was one of a kind and extremely good.
She instinctively found herself relaxing as she ate the soup, greatful that it was now a weekend and that she didn't have work. Dokja got out her phone and stared at the message that Yoo Joonghyuk sent her last night.
Kim Dokja: thanks
She thought that Joonghyuk had hated her.
Hated her for practically ghosting her, hated her for neglecting their companionship after parting ways. What if Yoo Joonghyuk needed Dokja to be there for her, but she hadn't bothered to help?
She walked over to her bookshelf in her room after finishing the soup and looked at that book. Opening it to a few pages, she realized the photos were completely gone from the book.
There's no way Yoo Joonghyuk saw it, right?
No way.